Album: The White Room
Artist: The KLF
Artist: The KLF
Born: Wandsworth, London
Released: March 1991
Genre: Acid House
Dance music was one of my first loves, and tracks taking me back to that era like Black Box's Ride On Time, Soul II Soul's Back To Life, Snap!'s The Power and The KLF's 3AM Eternal still sound great today. At the time, being just a spring chicken, I had no idea about The KLF's back story. As pop eccentrics go, Bill Drummond is right up there. When managing Echo & the Bunnymen, he tried to persuade the band never to release another album after Ocean Rain, and instead only perform live to enhance their cult status; he failed. After meeting graphic design artist James Cauty in 1985, he decided to leave his job as an A&R man for WEA Records and follow his own dreams, starting with a well-received solo album, The Man. In 1987, he started a band with Cauty called the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu with the idea of creating the first British hip hop album. Instead, they released a novelty record called Doctorin' The Tardis (as The Timelords) and scored an unlikely No.1 hit; they also wrote a book about the process. On the back of the proceeds, they rebranded themselves The KLF and, inspired by acid house, released a series of singles, coining the term "trance" in the process. They then recorded an outstanding ambient house record, Chill Out (1990), and coined the term "chill-out music" in the process. But 1991 was their breakout year, with the Stadium House Trilogy of songs, What Time Is Love?, 3AM Eternal and Last Train To Trancentral, as well as the release of The White Room.
I could also mention the fact that The KLF performed at the BRIT Awards with hardcore punk outfit Extreme Noise Terror, or that Drummond burned a million pounds on live TV, but I think you get the picture. As well as being one of pop's originals, Drummond also wrote some outstanding songs and The White Room is the best evidence of that. The album was initially intended as the soundtrack to a film of the same name, but the project was cancelled and the songs remixed for this 1991 release. To recreate the atmosphere of open air raves, The KLF added crowd noise samples from The Doors Absolutely Live and U2's Rattle & Hum, and enhanced the tracks with a huge, heavy bass sound. What Time Is Love?, already a club hit, was updated with a rap from MC Bello and became a UK Top Ten single. In fact, no group sold more singles than The KLF throughout the whole of Europe in 1991. 3AM Eternal is inspired by the "bleep techno" pioneered by the likes of LFO -- for me, LFO's Frequencies and The Shamen's En-Tact are just two rare examples of listenable acid house / techno albums from this era -- and was enhanced by the soulful voice of Maxine Harvey. As well as the three stadium house singles, other highlights on the album include Make It Rain and No More Tears. The album closes with Justified & Ancient, which is not as entertaining as the remix version released later in 1991, featuring country music star Tammy Wynette. The song was kept off the Christmas Day UK No.1 spot by Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, re-released in the wake of Freddie Mercury's death. As one of the last musical acts of both The KLF and Tammy Wynette, it was gloriously silly and perfectly in tune with the insane times.
Dance music was one of my first loves, and tracks taking me back to that era like Black Box's Ride On Time, Soul II Soul's Back To Life, Snap!'s The Power and The KLF's 3AM Eternal still sound great today. At the time, being just a spring chicken, I had no idea about The KLF's back story. As pop eccentrics go, Bill Drummond is right up there. When managing Echo & the Bunnymen, he tried to persuade the band never to release another album after Ocean Rain, and instead only perform live to enhance their cult status; he failed. After meeting graphic design artist James Cauty in 1985, he decided to leave his job as an A&R man for WEA Records and follow his own dreams, starting with a well-received solo album, The Man. In 1987, he started a band with Cauty called the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu with the idea of creating the first British hip hop album. Instead, they released a novelty record called Doctorin' The Tardis (as The Timelords) and scored an unlikely No.1 hit; they also wrote a book about the process. On the back of the proceeds, they rebranded themselves The KLF and, inspired by acid house, released a series of singles, coining the term "trance" in the process. They then recorded an outstanding ambient house record, Chill Out (1990), and coined the term "chill-out music" in the process. But 1991 was their breakout year, with the Stadium House Trilogy of songs, What Time Is Love?, 3AM Eternal and Last Train To Trancentral, as well as the release of The White Room.
I could also mention the fact that The KLF performed at the BRIT Awards with hardcore punk outfit Extreme Noise Terror, or that Drummond burned a million pounds on live TV, but I think you get the picture. As well as being one of pop's originals, Drummond also wrote some outstanding songs and The White Room is the best evidence of that. The album was initially intended as the soundtrack to a film of the same name, but the project was cancelled and the songs remixed for this 1991 release. To recreate the atmosphere of open air raves, The KLF added crowd noise samples from The Doors Absolutely Live and U2's Rattle & Hum, and enhanced the tracks with a huge, heavy bass sound. What Time Is Love?, already a club hit, was updated with a rap from MC Bello and became a UK Top Ten single. In fact, no group sold more singles than The KLF throughout the whole of Europe in 1991. 3AM Eternal is inspired by the "bleep techno" pioneered by the likes of LFO -- for me, LFO's Frequencies and The Shamen's En-Tact are just two rare examples of listenable acid house / techno albums from this era -- and was enhanced by the soulful voice of Maxine Harvey. As well as the three stadium house singles, other highlights on the album include Make It Rain and No More Tears. The album closes with Justified & Ancient, which is not as entertaining as the remix version released later in 1991, featuring country music star Tammy Wynette. The song was kept off the Christmas Day UK No.1 spot by Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, re-released in the wake of Freddie Mercury's death. As one of the last musical acts of both The KLF and Tammy Wynette, it was gloriously silly and perfectly in tune with the insane times.
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